15 April 2025

Weekly Update: Recycling company treating migrant workers like waste

Workers at East Rand recycling company M&N Waste are fighting back as their employer is breaking the law by refusing to pay them the National Minimum Wage of R28.79 per hour.

Host: Muzi Mzoyi
Guests: Matsoanelo Matomotomo & Jordan Mondlane
Produced by Charles Leonard
Engineered by Muzi Mzoyi.

08 April 2025

Weekly Update: Draft Code of Conduct Resistance

Nedlac has negotiated changes to the Labour Relations Act, Basic Conditions of Employment Act and the National Minimum Wage Act - the first is a proposed new Code of Good Practice on Dismissals.
Even the trade union federations in Nedlac have agreed to this draft code, which will make it easier for bosses to fire workers.
Host: Muzi Mzoyi
Guests: John Appolis & Sydney Moshaoliba.

04 April 2025

Update Special: Draft Code of Good Practice on Dismissal

Thirty workers and social rights organisations have filed a joint submission to the Department of Employment and Labour and the Parliamentary Committee on Employment and Labour calling for the new Draft Code of Good Practice on Dismissal to be scrapped.

They are also demanding public hearings to be held with affected workers.

The draft code is pro-employer and does away with the rights for workers to take part in disciplinary hearings before they are dismissed.

The code is a product of secret negotiations in National Economic and Labour Council (Nedlac) between April 2022 and October 2024 – it completely excluded union members, shop stewards, paralegal advice offices and union officials.

Host: Muzi Mzoyi

01 April 2025

Weekly Update: Arbitration for Mr Sweet workers

Last year Mr Sweet fired several workers who went on a protected strike. Fifty-seven of them approached the CCMA and last week they got a decision there that they were satisfied with.
Host: Muzi Mzoyi
Produced by Charles Leonard; Engineered by Muzi Mzoyi

25 March 2025

Weekly Update: Migrant Workers

This week we look at the treatment of migrant workers in South Africa and what is being done to organise them.

18 March 2025

Weekly Update: Labour court tells bosses, 'This isn't piece work'

Five female workers take on their employer for paying them in terms of a piece work system instead of the national minimum wage.

And win.

04 March 2025

Weekly Update: Vegetable farm workers win at CCMA

ZGG farmworkers celebrate after winning yet another case at the CCMA against their employer in a series of battles since 2023.

Anchor: Muzi Mzoyi Guests: Joshua Hlungwa; Phineas Ngobeni

25 February 2025

Weekly Update: Bosses going after their own foreign workers

This is happening even though the Labour Relations Act also applies to migrants, even if they don't have a valid work permit.

20 February 2025

Weekly Update: Premier Mister sweet dismisses Workers

In Buwa Basebetsi update this week: We look at the story of 110 Premier Mister Sweet Workers dismissed in January for taking part in a strike in 2024

25 November 2024

Weekly Update: End of Mr Sweet strike

Premier FMCG's chief executive officer, Kobus Gertenbach, earns R18.8 million per year in salaries and bonuses. Yet workers at Mister Sweet are paid different amounts on a 'case by case basis' - there is no basic wage, and some earn as little as R6000 per month, even after ten years in the employ of the company.

The workers, members of the Simunye Workers' Forum trade union, calculated that a living wage would be R19 500 per month, and decided to strike for this. This was always going to be a tough demand to win, especially at a company which sees no need to negotiate wage increases with unions, instead getting agreement from a tiny minority union to accept an inflation adjustment and then imposing this on the majority of workers.

However, the R19 500 living wage demand was reasonable and affordable for Mister Sweet. It also mattered in the South African context.

22 November 2024

Weekly Update: Labour Rights Week

Hosted by the CWAO and Foundation for Human Rights, this five-day workshop is for activists (Human Rights Defenders) from 30 organisations who are all on the frontline of defending workers against exploitation and abuse.

We all know that casual work in South Africa takes the form of continued 'cheap Black labour'. This prevents millions of people from realising their rights to lives of dignity and respect. The workshop aims to train activists to represent and advise workers. After the workshop, the organisations will set up a legal referral system where activists can engage with attorneys for further advice and guidance on legal matters.

The aim of Labour Rights Week is to increase human rights defenders' knowledge and skills so that they:

• Deepen their knowledge of the legal foundation of worker rights
• Develop their skills to identify specific sources of worker rights
• Increase their prospects to represent casual workers in dispute resolution agencies such as the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA)
• Expand their awareness of psychosocial support and cyberspace safety as human rights defenders.

15 November 2024

Weekly Update: Labour Law Amendment Bill

On the 9th of October 2024, the Department of Employment & Labour issued a press statement where they shared their readiness of their inspectors to be deployed to enforce another "wave" of labour law amendments.

Muzi Mzoyi sat down with John Appolis of the Casual Workers Advice Office, who broke down the new Amendments, while explaining what they mean for the reality of workers.

25 October 2024

Weekly Update: Mr Sweet Protest - Two months into strike

On the 19th of August Workers at Mister Sweet went on strike demanding a R19000 basic salary as their main bone of content, but there are more issues than what meets the eye as we previously reported. There are issues with overtime pay treatment of female workers, pay disparities and provident fund that is not growing to mention just few. Nqebethu, a member of the strike committee tells us about their experience up to here..

The Strike Barometer is produced independently, not from government numbers, but from information supplied by workers and unions. You can log on here whenever you like to get the latest strike information: https://statistics.cwao.org.za/

If you know of any strikes that we have not recorded on the Barometer, please contact us on 082 812 1934.

16 October 2024

Weekly Update: Mr Sweet Protest

This week marks the 8th week since the start of Mister Sweet strike. On the 19th of August Workers at Mister Sweet went on strike demanding a R19000 basic salary as their main bone of content, but there are more issues than what meets the eye as we previously reported. There are issues with overtime pay treatment of female workers, pay disparities and provident fund that is not growing to mention just few.

11 October 2024

Weekly Update: Bosses at ZGG

This week, we expose the bosses at ZGG, a vegetable and flower farm west of Joburg, which has banned 37 workers from other countries from the workplace. The ZGG bosses say they will fire the workers unless they come up with documents within two weeks - despite the fact that many of the workers have been working on the farm for 10 years.

26 September 2024

Weekly Update: Mr Sweet Protest - Injured Workers

The SWF has been informed that several casual workers have been seriously injured over the past week in the Mister Sweet factory after Mister Sweet bosses put pressure on them to handle dangerous and unfamiliar machinery.

Mister Sweet has also allegedly breached s17 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act by continuing to keep the factory running using untrained casual workers while failing to make sure that they have health and safety officers.

Last week a casual worker who had no experience or training was using the cutter. It was not moving sweets and because the worker had not been trained on what to do, he tried to push the sweets under the cutter and that is how his finger was cut off, workers say.

Workers also report that casuals are operating the cooker, which can be dangerous, without training.

20 September 2024

Weekly Update: The Mister Sweet strike is in its fourth week.

The Mister Sweet strike is in its fourth week and is taking its toll on striking workers. From the 19th of August workers have been demanding R19 500 as their basic salary, but their employer is sticking to their 7% increase across the board. This is despite Mister Sweet being owned by Premier FMCG which last year declared just over a 23% increase in revenue.

13 September 2024

Weekly Update: Mr Sweet Protest - Labour Court victory

The Simunye Workers Forum union has defeated Mister Sweet's attempts to bring an interdict against the strike at its factory in Johannesburg which began on 19 August.

Johannesburg Labour Court judge J Daniels recently ruled that the employer was unable to show any link between the alleged violence they complained of and the strikers. Therefore the company was not entitled to interdict the strike or the strikers.

Judge Daniels also acknowledged that the strike was a lawful and protected strike.

06 September 2024

Weekly Update: Mr Sweet Protest - Actions of Solidarity

24 August 2024

Weekly Update: On the picket line with striking workers from Mister Sweet

We bring you the latest developments on the current protest taking place at Mr Sweet in Wadeville.

We hear directly from the workers on the ground, and get an overview on the reasons behind the strike.

14 August 2024

Weekly Update: An Analysis of Asylum Seekers

Two people from Diepsloot, Gauteng speak out.

Buwa Basebetsi has carried out this analysis with the help of an article by Kimberly Mutandiro published in GroundUp

12 August 2024

Weekly Update: Strike Barometer

In this episode of Buwa Basebetsi Updates we look at the results of the CWAO's online Strike Barometer.

The Strike Barometer is produced independently, not from government numbers, but from information supplied by workers and unions. You can log on here whenever you like to get the latest strike information: https://statistics.cwao.org.za/

If you know of any strikes that we have not recorded on the Barometer, please contact us on 082 812 1934.

12 August 2024

Weekly Update: Olympic Games 2024

In this episode of Buwa Basebetsi Updates we look at the Olympics Games, focusing on Israel's participation. We carry out this analysis with the help of an article by Hassan Lorgat published in the Media Review Network website.

11 July 2024

Weekly Update: School Registration Assistance

The Casual Workers Advice Office, Simunye Workers Forum and Simunye Women Workers Forum know the challenges community members face in day-to-day life and we are aware that things are difficult economically for the masses. We therefore invite parents/guardians whose children will be attending Grade 1 and Grade 8 in 2025 to use the CWAO computer centre in Germiston to register their children's applications online.

30 April 2024

Weekly Update: The Casual Workers' Advice Office Strike Barometer for 2023

There were 83 strikes in 2023, a slight decrease over the 86 strikes we documented in 2022. This continues the pattern of relatively low number of strikes annually since the 165 strikes of 2018. Forty one of the 83 strikes occurred in the public sector. This figure excludes at least seven strikes at hospitals, universities, private companies contracted by municipalities and institutions such as Productivity SA and the State Information Technology Agency. Fifty of the strikes (60.24%) were wildcat and 33 (40.2%) were protected strikes. Seventeen workplace related actions were recorded in addition to the 83 strikes.

26 April 2024

Weekly Update: Organising efforts by Casual Workers Advice Office and the Household Index

This week in Buwa Basebetsi Update we look at the organising efforts by Cassual Workers Advice Office and our weekly household Index in our Economic Observer which looks at how the economy affects the working class purse.

19 April 2024

Weekly Update: a look at the upcoming CCMA campaign and our food basket index

In Buwa Basebetsi Updates this week, Casual Workers Advice Office and Simunye Workers Forum announce their upcoming CCMA campaign where they will avail themselves at the various offices in and around Johannesburg for any workers who might be in need of assistance.

05 April 2024

Weekly Update: an update on Zanthe Fresh workers and our weekly Household Index

In Buwa Basebetsi Updates this week we revisit the story of Zanthe fresh workers and conclude the segment with our weekly Household Index

23 March 2024

Weekly Update: the story of six workers of Anoplate who are facing retrenchment and our weekly Household Index

In Buwa Basebetsi Updates this week we revisit the story of six workers of Anoplate who are facing retrenchment and conclude the segment with our weekly Household Index

15 March 2024

Weekly Update: International Women's day event, Zanthe Fresh update and our weekly household index.

This week we highlight the International Women's Day event, where the Simunye Women Workers Forum stood in solidarity with Palestinian women. We provide an update on the situation at Zanthe Fresh (ZGG), and we also give you our weekly household index in our economic observer.